When shooting Video on a DSLR. Lets say with a long lens if one has to zoom a lot, but needs a steady zoom in or out. It just cant be done by hand. As we have to let go and rotate the balance of the way. This makes the zooming seem jumpy. Is there a gadget that helps you to zoom in and out smoother.

I was planning to put a cable tie strap onto the zoom ring . This makes it into a sort of handle like thing which i think would enable one to zoom in or out smoother. Or should we use a remote to zoom in or out. I think the EF-S lenses dont have motorized zooming right ?

Hi, there are a number of solutions to this, but first you must have a fairly smooth zooming action lens first. L series canons work great.

Firstly you could use a follow focus system (look on ebay) they are attached to 15mm rails under the camera, these rails are attached to a baseplate which is connected to the camera. The follow focus unit enables focus to be changed from a 90 degree angle (parallel with your hand instead of at an awkward angle on the lens) The unit has a wheel connected to a gearbok and a cog t the other side. When you buy one you get gear rings which attach to the lens, the gear touches the small cog on the unit so when you turn the wheel you are changing focus. The unit can be connected to the zoom ring aswell. This will make zooming very easy, most cinema cameras use follow focus systems for zoom and focus.

Secondly you could use a home made system. Ive used this before:
Ok, get a wire coat hanger and straighten it, cut it in half. Then make a loop in it, you should have it looking like a circle with 2 pieces of wire to each side. You put this on the lens ring (it will only grip rubber lens grips btw) and then you will find turning the end of the wire makes the zooming action much easier and in turn much smoother, because your further from the center of rotation.

You could use the cable tie and attach an elastic band to it, when you pull the band the zoom action will be heavily dampened and alot smoother. But with this you will find that zooming will start slow, speed up, and finish slow, its a nice effect, but you might not want it.

Thanks for your suggestions. Nice rubber band idea to dampen the rotation. Im very well aware of the follow focus and DSLR Rigs out there from Cinevate and Zacuto etc.

I wonder of i could just get the toothed focus rings that you screw onto the focus of the lens. My idea was a heavy duty cable tie strap and the ends will anyway protude from the barrel and can be used as the handle itself.

I just saw a focus / zoom lever contraption thats being sold by cinevate. The lever alone costs $40 roughly and you also need to buy seperate gear rings to put onto your lens. The whole thing might run me another $120 for this.

Are there any cheaper brands or tools available ? Id like to buy 2, 1 for focus and 1 for zoom.

A follow focus system might work, depending on how the build of your lens is. Cheap zoom lenses zoom pretty much without effort, and would therefore work without problems with follow focus systems. Higher end lenses, with better build, are often built such that zooming takes a bit more force, and depending on the quality of the follow focus you're using, it may need too much force to actually work.

One thing to keep in mind is that no matter what accessory system for video you buy, it's not gonna be cheap.

MOD: I've moved your thread into the videography section since it's more about video techniques than a DSLR.

Thread has been moved ? But I wanted to know specifically about zooming a DSLR specific lens since i own a DSLR only. Now ill have to discuss with the guys who own RED ONE cameras and will recommend $10,000 rigs. .